Are you addicted to lip balm?

Hello,

I’m Giorgia and I’m a lip balm addict. I have at least a dozen lip balms laying around the house and every time I go out I have to make sure I have one with me. I apply lip balm on my lips at least 20 times a day. I also apply it every night before I go to sleep. I just can’t live without it.

Recently, I stumbled on an article in a magazine that mentioned lip balm addiction and it got me thinking: am I really addicted to lip balm? I mean, I’ve always used them because I like how they feel on my lips, they taste and smell good and some of them even give a hint of color.

But could lip balm cause a real physical addiction? I’ve done some research on the topic and here is what I found out:

Lip balms stop lips from producing natural moisture
When you apply lip balm, you create a barrier on the skin that slows down moisture loss. Because lips are moisturized, skin cells stop producing their own natural moisture. So, when you’re not using your lip balm anymore, it takes a while for cells to start producing natural moisture again. But in the meantime, your lips feel dry so you reapply your lip balm again. This make cells stop producing moisture until you don’t use lip balm anymore. And so on.

Drying ingredients
Some ingredients in your lip balms, such as fragrances, preservatives, lanolin and colorings can cause sensitivity and irritation. As a reaction to these ingredients, your lips feel dry.
Another ingredient that can cause chapped lips is phenol. It is added in lip balms because it provides temporarily relief. However, it also an exfoliant that removes the top layers of the skin, causing lips to become dry.

Lip licking
Some lip balms smell great and taste so yummy we keep licking our lips. This causes them to dry out. Saliva evaporates quickly, removing not only the balm, but also the moisture from your lips, which are left feeling drier.

Psychological need
Some experts claim that lip balm addiction is a psychological need and not a physical one. People don’t apply lip balm because they need but because they are so used to doing it and so accustomed to the feel of moisturized lips, it becomes a habit hard to break.

As far as I’m concerned, I think my addiction is a psychological one. I’m so used to wearing lip balm, that I feel naked without it. What about you? Are you addicted to lip balm as well?

Product Review: NYX Ultra Pearl Mania Loose Eyeshadow

Name: Ultra Pearl Mania
Brand: NYX
Size: 0.06fl.oz/5ml
Price: $2.00

From NYX’s website:
Loose Pearl Eyeshadow lets you sweep on intense colors in one easy application.

What I liked:
- lots of beautiful shades to choose from
- pigmented
- longlasting
- the price

What I didn’t like:
- the packaging

I love pigments: they are multi-purpose, long lasting and have amazing color payoff. I have quite a few of them and I use them almost daily. After hearing so many good things about NYX pigments I couldn’t resist, I had to try them.

These loose shadows are available in 30 beautiful shades. I have Lime, a nice sheer, shimmery green. Despite Lime being a sheer shade it is pretty pigmented.

The powder is fine and easy to blend, although a bit powdery which can make application messy. For this reason, it’s better to use this with a sticky primer to make the color adhere better to the lid. The primer will also make the color last all day.

Despite the fact that I love this pigment I’m not sure I’m gonna get more of these because I hate the packaging. I don’t mind that the jar is pretty small, after all, who can finish a whole jar of MAC pigment? And for $2.00 you still get lots of product.

But what I can’t stand is that the opening is so small you can’t get a brush in there and I have yet to figure out how to get the powder out without pouring out too much and making a mess! This is really annoying me and I’m thinking of buying a bigger jar and transfer the product in there.

The pigments cost $2.00, but you can buy them for $1.35 on the Makeup Mix Shop, which is where I got mine. At the moment they are also on sale on Cherry Culture at $1.50 each.

Summary:
Overall, I love this pigment. The shade is beautiful, the color payoff great and it lasts all day. Not too mention that it’s so cheap! However, it is a bit powdery and the jar makes it difficult to get the powder out.

Rating: 4/5

Disclaimer: the item was purchased by me for both personal and review purposes. The review is based on my own personal and honest experience with the product. For more information, please see my disclaimer.

Benefit Launches Crescent Row Fragrance Collection

Benefit has just launched Crescent Row, a trio of scents inspired by three ladies, Lee Lee, Sophia and Gina, who live in a row of houses in Royal Crescent in England.

Laugh with Lee Lee is a woody floral with notes of cassis, melon, citrus, black violet, lily, jasmine, blonde wood, amber and santal.

Something about Sophia is an oriental floral featuring notes of mango, freesia, sheer lily, jasmine sambac, peony petal, musk, white caramel and vanilla bean.

My Place or Yours Gina is a woody oriental that includes notes of pink pepper, bergamot, tangerine, peony, wild raspberry, white lily, patchouli, tonka bean and vanilla bean.

These fragrances come in the prettiest packaging that I have ever seen for a scent. Not only the vintage bottle looks like a cocktail-shaker but each scent comes in its own little house complete with a front door and interiors. How cute is that?

Being obsessed with everything England, I just want all of them. But my fave fragrance has to be My Place or Your Gina. There is something about woody oriental scents that I absolutely love.

Which one is your favourite?

New Collection: MAC Euristocrats II

Six hot new Dazzleglass shades to add the sheen, the sparkle, and the ooh-la-la that never fails to entertain. They’re the “something extra” we’ve added to the Lipstick and Dazzleglass collection Euristocrats can’t get enough of. More, more, more!

LIPSTICK
Costa Chic: light coral
Naked Paris: mid-tone brown with multi dimensional pearlized pigments
Patisserie: creamy neutral pink
Milan Mode: deep pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments
London Life: deep berry with multi-pearl pigments
Saint Germain: pastel pink
Cockney: Yellow red with multi-dimensional pearl pigments

DAZZLEGLASS
Date Night: deep plum with blue and gold pearl
Euro Beat: peach coral with gold pearl
Internationalist: yellow pink with blue pearl
Local Colour: neutral yellow pink with gold pearl
Roman Holiday: med brown coral with pink pearl
Rue de Rouge: light red with pink pearl
Vie Veneto: light violet with blue pearl

LIP PENCIL
Magenta: vivid pinkish-purple
Cherry: vivid bright bluish-red
Subculture: underground pink
Whirl: dirty rose

What are you gonna get from the collection?

Source

Know Your Ingredients: Bismuth Oxychloride

What it is
Bismuth Oxychloride is a white powder that seldom occurs in nature. Because it comes from the earth, it can contain traces of heavy metals in low concentrations and therefore aren’t a risk for human health. More often instead, it is manufactured by combining bismuth, a by-product of lead and copper metal refining, with chloride and water.

What it does
Bismuth Oxychloride has a white powder texture that adheres well to skin. This helps makeup stay on longer. It also gives skin a silky feel and either a white shimmer or pearlescent matte finish. The glow reflects light away from the skin, helping to hide wrinkles and fine lines.
It is also used as a coloring agent: it imparts a white color to cosmetics and personal care products.
In addition, it is an absorbent agent and a thickener.

Side effects
Bismuth Oxychloride often causes irritations, redness, itching, rashes and inflammation. In addition, it can worsen acne and rosacea. Because Bismuth Oxychloride has large molecules, it tends to slide off skin. For this reasons, companies recommend to keep buffing it on skin but this can worse the irritating and inflammation.
Bismuth Oxychloride is not allowed to be used in lip products.